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Please share this 20 minute film “Ceremony Comes Home” far and wide and ask people to watch the film and share as well as email Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell:

“Our next Coming of Age ceremony is coming up in July, July 20 – 23. Please share this video, and let Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell (ttidwell@fs.fed.us) know that you expect his agency to work with us to avoid a repeat of his underlings’ disgraceful behavior of last year.”

Check the Winnemem website for updates about the Coming of Age Ceremony if you would like to help on site or from a distance.

Please keep checking the website for news about what is needed for Women’s Coming of Age Ceremony — like 30 innertubes, volunteers, food supply, donations. Let me or Karyn Smoot know if you want to go to Ceremony in July or the Mt. Shasta Ceremony in August (second weekend). Karyn Smoot (kmsmoot [at] gmail.com)

“Justice in Action” and “Dissent & Democracy” are the Civil Liberties Defense Center’s programs serving as our two-pronged approach towards achieving the goals set forth by our mission. By utilizing education, and when necessary, the courts, the Civil Liberties Defense Center is distinctly able to both proactively and reactively challenge governmental attacks on our liberties and rights. Additionally, as a smaller organization, we have the power of flexibility that enables us to spring into action to address immediate needs of our constituents, tailoring our responses accordingly.

Through Justice in Action, our litigation program, the Civil Liberties Defense Center provides free legal representation or referrals to peace activists, environmental and animal rights activists, immigrants’ rights activists, marriage equality activists, and others involved in progressive social change. Of the numerous requests the CLDC receives, we accept cases with the most potential to effect systemic change beyond the individual case, and to serve communities with difficulty obtaining excellent legal representation. Whether by successfully representing a mosque in a challenge to the FBI’s attempt to subpoena religious records after September 11, or by providing continual assistance with legal representation and referrals of the “Green Scare” defendants and grand jury witnesses, the Civil Liberties Defense Center excels in precedent-setting cases and impact litigation in order to protect constitutional rights.

The Civil Liberties Defense Center is entrenched in the fight against the government’s abuse of the “terrorist” label. Alarmingly, many of the attacks on our civil liberties after September 11, 2001, are just now coming to fruition. For the first time in the history of our democracy, the government has attempted to expand the definition of “terrorism” to include crimes involving property damage alone and has attempted to portray civil disobedience, such as picketing, as “terrorism” for purposes of increasing punishment and chilling citizen activism. The CLDC challenges this abusive labeling in the courtroom, in the international media, and through public education.

After nearly four years, Eugene’s Exclusion law banishing people from the downtown infringes on a variety of civil liberties, including those to freedom of movement, legal representation, and equal treatment under the law, but does little for public safety. The DPSZ ordinance is scheduled to sunset this fall. However, as it has several times before, […]

Calling all creative folk! The CLDC is looking for people to participate in creating and performing a Know Your Rights/Security Culture puppet show for activists. Basic script is ready to go! We need people to create puppets and learn and/or perform with them. Ideally performers will be in the Eugene/Portland area, but puppet artists could […]

The Civil Liberties Center is working to fight against the Green Scare, the governments unconstitutional attack on environmental and animal rights activists, by conducting research, participating in public outreach and education, and assisting with the legal defense of non-cooperating defendants. We are also providing attorney referrals for various individuals and have assisted their attorneys with […]

Tasers do not decrease the likelihood that police will use deadly force. In fact, tasers are deadly force. The Civil Liberties Center is working to educate the community about this commonly used compliance device. Check out our Taser Trifold in English or in Spanish. Please feel free to reprint and distribute.